4i8 



NA TURE 



[March 3, 1898 



A CORRESPONDENT writes to inform us, with respect to the 

 Lincolnshire Naturalists' Union, that the papers written by 

 members of that association are published in the Naturalist, 

 which i? issued under the auspices of the Yorkshire Naturalists' 

 Union. While desirous in everj' way to further the interests 

 of local societies, the demands upon our space render it im- 

 possible for us to enter into loCal controversies, and we must 

 decline to notice any further communications relating to this 

 division among the naturalists of Lincolnshire. 



The following are the arrangements for lectures during March 

 at ihe Imperial Institute. These lectures will be open free to 

 the public, without tickets, seats being reserved for Fellows of 

 the Imperial Institute and persons introduced by them. Mon- 

 day, March 7, at 8.30, "The Mineral and other Resources 

 of Newfoundland," by Mr. J. H. Collins; Wednesday, March 9, 

 at 3, " A Demonstration with the Cinematograph of ' Harvesting 

 in Manitoba in 1897,' " by Mr. J. S. Freer ; Thursday, March 10, 

 at 8.30, " Colonisation in Canada," by the Marquis Bouthillier- 

 Chavigny ; Monday, March 14, at 8.30, "The Alps of New 

 Zealand," by Mr. E. A. Fitzgerald ; Monday, March 21, at 8.30, 

 " Siam — Present and Future," by Mr. Frederick W. Verney ; 

 Monday, March 28, at 8.30, "On a proposed Railway Con- 

 nection between India and Ceylon," by Mr. John Ferguson. 



From a preliminary note in the Atti dei Lincei, we learn that 

 Dr. B. Longo, by studying the embryology of the Caly- 

 canihacece, has discovered in their ovules certain characteristics 

 forming a new link between this order of plants and the 



Rosacea. 



We are glad to see that an attempt is being made to increase 

 the usefulness of the collections of abstracts which, under the 

 .editorship of Mr. J. Swinburne, have for several years consti- 

 tuted the second half of the Proceedings of the Physical Society 

 of London. With the title " Science Abstracts, Physics and 

 Electrical Engineering," these records of current research have 

 now, for the first time, appeared in separate form, and the Insti- 

 tution of Electrical Engineers has now co-operated with the 

 Physical Society in their publication. Mr. Swinburne still holds 

 the post of editor, and Mr. W. R. Cooper has been appointed 

 sub-editor. The change is calculated both to extend the circu- 

 lation and enlarge the scope of these abstracts by introducing 

 matter of a practical nature without detracting from the value of 

 the notices of the more theoretical papers. The numbers may 

 be obtained by non-members from the publishers, Messrs. 

 Taylor and Francis. 



In a communication to the Philosophical Magazine for 

 February, on the failure of german-silver and platinoid wires 

 used for resistance coils in tropical climates, 'Mr. Rollo 

 Appleyard remarks : — "Can metallurgists tell us the difference 

 in constitution and structure between a german-silver wire that 

 •decays in four weeks and another that, under similar circum- 

 -stances, never fails? Or, what is even more important, can 

 they make us platinoid that shall never fail ? If they cannot, 

 it becomes necessary to surrender these cheaper and better 

 electrical materials, and fall back upon the more expensive 

 rklloys, beginning at platinum-silver. If sufficient time and 

 means were at the disposal of metallurgists, they might discover 

 the secret of permanence in alloys. Germany, with the advan- 

 tages of a National Laboratory, has already attacked the 

 •question, and " manganin " is the result. Its adoption there as 

 a satisfactory alloy is directly due to' work done at the Reichsan- 

 stalt. But it has yet to be proved that manganin will endure 

 the. conditions imposed by the tropics. Moreover, the doubt 

 .arises as to whether it is desirable to obtain from abroad material 

 that ought to be produced in our own country. British cable 

 .manufacturers are already importing thousands of tons of sheath- 

 NO. 14.79, VOL. 57] 



ing wire from Germany ; and it seems probable that, for the want 

 of a National Laboratory, instrument-makers will now get their 

 resistance- wire from that same adventurous foreign source." 



The Report of the Meteorological Council for the year ending 

 March 31, 1897, has recently been presented to Parliament. 

 The Office continues to collect data relating to the meteorology 

 of the ocean, and supplies complete outfits of meteorological 

 instruments to officers of merchant ships who are willing to 

 make observations. Her Majesty's ships are also supplied with 

 instruments, and valuable observations are received from officers 

 ofthe Royal Navy. We have previously noticed the monthly 

 current charts which have been published for several oceans. A 

 work on the meteorology of the Southern Ocean, between the 

 Cape of Good Hope and New Zealand, is in course of prepara- 

 tion ; and as no charts for this area have been previously 

 published by the Office, the work will probably be of much 

 value. The results of the weather forecasts continue to show a 

 considerable amount of success ; for those published in the morn- 

 ing newspapers a complete or partial succsss of 81 per cent, is 

 claimed for the year in question, while for the special forecasts 

 issued during the hay-harvest, the figures show that 88 per cent, 

 were useful. A still greater success is claimed for the warnings 

 of storms, no less than 91 '5 per cent, being justified. For the 

 study of the climatology of the British Isles, the Office continues 

 to subsidise, and to maintain an intimate relationship with, a 

 small number of observatories of the highest class, and to supple- 

 ment this information by observations from a large number of 

 voluntary stations. The principal miscellaneous investigations 

 during the year refer to anemometer experiments, earth tem- 

 peratures, and the recently published rainfall statistics for the 

 British Islands. 



Under the' name of " alinit " a new manure suitable for all 

 kinds of grain has been recently introduced to the scientific and 

 agricultural worlds by that enterprising firm of colour manufac- 

 turers, Friedrich Bayer and Co., whose name is already so 

 indissolubly associated with nitragin, and the production of 

 diphtheria anti-toxins. The discoverer of this mysterious 

 material is a certain Herr Caron, of Ellenbach ; and alinit in 

 its present form is the outcome of four years' laborious experi- 

 mental investigations on the bacterial flora of different soils, 

 resulting in the isolation of a particular bacillus, upon the pre- 

 sence of which would appear to depend to an important extent 

 the fertility of certain soils. Caron has already obtained striking 

 results on an experimental scale with crops from soil treated 

 with pure cultures of this bacillus — Ellenbachensis alpha, as he 

 has called it. Alinit is to be had commercially from the above 

 firm, and is sent out as a creamy-yellow powder, of which the 

 nitrogenous constituents have been ascertained to be 2*5 per 

 cent. Its closer investigation has been made the subject of 

 memoirs by Stoklasa, of Prague, and also Messrs. Stutzer and 

 Hartleb. The bacillus is contained in this powder in the form 

 of spores, and on cultivation is found to belong to the well- 

 known aerobic group of bacteria known as the hay bacilli, 

 resembling very" closely the bacillus riiycoides so frequently 

 found in soil,' and the ' bacillus Megatherium. It appears to 

 grow easily upon all the usual culture media. Before its precise 

 place amongst bacterial fertilisers can be determined, many 

 more elaborate and carefully-conducted experiments must be 

 carried out. 



Prof. Arnaldo Faustini contributes to the Bolletlino of 

 the Italian Geographical Society, which, by the way, appears in 

 a new ornamental cover, a note on the " Appearances of Land " 

 recorded by various voyagers in the Antarctic regions. Tiie 

 paper gives point to some of the strongest arguments for Ant- 

 arctic research, and summarises the topographical uncertainties 

 which future expeditions must set themselves to clear up. 



